Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies

Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies - made August 25, 2012 , recipe adapted from Alli-n-Son blog

Can you say yummy goodness?  Because I can with this lava cookie experiment.  I have to credit my sister with this, or rather the onset of her visit.  If you recall, my sister's favorite dessert is molten chocolate cake or lava cake.  I've tried various recipes in the past and usually am thwarted in finding the recipe for lava cake goodness that I aspire to.  My sister was coming up to visit one of her daughters (my niece who now goes to college in the area) and wanted "something chocolate".  Rather than making another attempt at a lava cake, I decided to try and make a lava cookie instead.  I'd been wanting to try this brown butter chocolate chip cookie from Alli-n-Son's blog so it seemed like a good time to try out both.

First of all, I love just about anything with browned butter.  The fragrant smell alone could bring me to my knees to worship at its hedonistic altar.  And the super deliciousness of its taste?  Uber goodness.  Second, instead of chocolate chips, I sacrificed chopped up one of the blocks of milk chocolate I had brought back from Switzerland last month, thereby almost guaranteeing this was going to turn out well.  You can't go wrong with Swiss chocolate - it's one of the universal truths of the Baking Gods.  After I made this cookie dough, it smelled so good I almost ate the dough.  And I never eat cookie dough, much preferring the baked version.  So for me to consider snitching cookie dough because it smelled and looked so good is almost unheard of.  If you're a cookie dough lover, make a pact with yourself that you will reserve some dough to actually bake.  Otherwise, you're going to miss out on a really good lava cookie.

I used nutella as the lava portion for the middle of the cookie but if nutella isn't your thing, you can also use caramel, biscoff spread or even melt some chocolate chips and add a little butter to keep it liquid for a pure chocolate center.  The nutella worked stupendously well in this cookie (I'm bringing out all the superlatives for this recipe because it was just that good).  You can serve this with ice cream but I found it doesn't need it because it's a good standalone dessert even without ice cream.  I may try a different version with a white chocolate chip cookie and biscoff spread next time.  As soon as I've run enough miles to work off this original version.

Oh, and I also baked a non-lava version of this cookie and that was pretty good too.  It had the thickness and chewy texture I love in my chocolate chip cookies.  BTW, for anyone with a sharp eye, you'll notice this recipe is almost exactly like the Alton Brown one, with the exception of 1/4 more bread flour and 1/2 teaspoon less salt.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon slices
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt (I used fleur de sel but you can also use regular salt)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups milk chocolate chunks
Nutella

1. In a small pot melt the butter over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Once melted, the butter will foam up, then subside. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until light brown specks form at the bottom of the pot and the butter has a nutty aroma.  Careful not to let it burn. Remove from heat and pour into a glass bowl. Set aside to cool. 
2. In a small bowl, sift together the bread flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. 
3. In a small bowl whisk together the milk, egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Set aside. 
4. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, on medium speed cream together the cooled browned butter and sugars for 2 minutes. 
5. On low speed, add in the egg mixture, mixing until well combined, about 30 seconds. 
6. Slowly stir in the flour mixture, mixing until well combined, scraping down the sides as needed. 
7. Stir in the chocolate chunks.  Form into dough balls, dropping a spoonful of nutella in the middle and wrapping the dough around to cover the filling completely.  Alternatively you can drop a spoonful of dough in a ramekin, drop a dollop of nutella over it then cover with another spoonful of dough, filling the ramekin 2/3 full.
8. Chill the dough balls (or ramekins) in the fridge overnight or up to 48 hours. 
9. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 
10. Line two cookie sheets parchment paper. 
11. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on each pan. Flatten balls slightly.  If using ramekins, place on unlined baking sheet.
12. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans half way through for evening browning. 
13. Cool slightly before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.  Serve warm.

Linked to Sweet Treats Thursdays

   

Caramel Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Caramel Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies - made August 24, 2012, recipe adapted from The Brownie Experience by Lisa Tanner

This is another brownie I made for my fellow Relay for Life walkers.  This is from the oldest brownie book in my collection, going on 24 years or more.  I decided to dress it up a bit and in addition to the cream cheese swirl, I marbled in salted caramel on top of the cream cheese mixture.  This didn't have the dark chocolate flavor you'd get from using unsweetened chocolate or cocoa so it's more of a semisweet brownie sweetened further with the cream cheese and caramel.  It was moist, both due to underbaking (must always underbake brownies) and the caramel.  I always forget though that the Trader Joe's salted caramel has a tendency to incorporate itself into the brownie batter so rather than distinct ribbons of caramel running through the cream cheese and fudge brownie, it bakes into the brownie itself so it's somewhat indistinct.  Still good though but rich so you might want to cut these into small pieces.

3 tablespoons butter

4 ounces semisweet chocolate or 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened

¼ cup sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon flour

2 eggs

¾ cup sugar

½ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder 
½ teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup caramel, optional

1.     Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Butter an 8” square pan.

2.     Melt together 3 tablespoons butter and chocolate over low heat; set aside to cool.  Using electric mixer, cream 2 tablespoons soft butter with cream cheese until fluffy.  Beat in ¼ cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon flour and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  In a separate bowl, with wire whisk, beat 2 eggs until foamy.  Add ¾ cup sugar, beating until well-blended.  Stir in ½ cup flour, baking powder and salt until combined.  Blend in melted chocolate mixture and vanilla.  Spread ½ of chocolate batter evenly in pan.  Spread cream cheese mixture over top. Drizzle caramel over cream cheese, if using.  Drop spoonfuls of remaining chocolate batter on top of cheese layer, swirling top layers gently with a knife to marbleize.

3.     Bake about 45 minutes, or until top is golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

4.     Cool completely in pan before cutting into bars.  Store in refrigerator.

Oatmeal Toffee Bars

Oatmeal Toffee Bars - made August 24, 2012, recipe adapted from 125 Cookies to Bake, Nibble and Savor by Elinor Klivans

This past Saturday, I participated in the Relay for Life, a 24-hour relay walk to raise funds for the American Cancer Society, in honor of Zoe, my friend's daughter who passed away 5 days after her 16th birthday earlier this summer.  I'm happy to announce that Team Zoe made Jade status and was the first team in the local Relay's history to raise over $10,000.  One third of the funds were raised by Teo, Zoe's 9-year-old brother who I blogged about earlier.  Many thanks to all of you who supported Teo and his fundraising efforts.

For relay day, I did a bit of baking (of course) to share with my fellow walkers, including this recipe for Oatmeal Toffee Bars.  I was actually going to make oatmeal cookies but was short on time as my sister was visiting and my niece was coming over so I went with these bar cookies instead.  They couldn't be easier to make and turned out pretty well.  They were a cross between a blondie and a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie.  I didn't get the crunch of the pecans and toffee as much as I expected but overall, they were a nice, chewy bar.  I could pretend they were for carbo-loading because of the oatmeal, but factor in the butter, sugar, chocolate chips and toffee and well - let's not kid ourselves.  Good thing I did all that relay walking.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) soft unsalted butter

½ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ½ cups oatmeal (not quick-cooking)

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

2 cups (about 10 ounces) coarsely crushed toffee candy, such as Heath Bars or Skor
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1.     Position a rack in the middle of the oven.  Preheat oven to 325°F.    Line a 9 x 13” baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Stir the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl.  Set aside.

3.     Put the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low speed for about 30 seconds until smooth.  Stir in the egg and vanilla and mix until thoroughly blended.  Stir in the oatmeal.  Mix in the flour mixture just until it is incorporated.  Stir in the pecans and crushed toffee.  Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

4.     Bake until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out sticky but not dripped with batter and the edges are light brown, about 25 minutes.  Cool thoroughly in the baking pan on a wire rack.

   

Intense Chocolate Brownies

Intense Chocolate Brownies - made August 18, 2012, recipe adapted from Flour by Joanne Chang

The "Frosted" Chocolate Brownies I made before this didn't make enough for what I needed them for so I also nutella crunch-ized this brownie recipe from Joanne Chang's Flour baking book.  I did make a couple of minor adjustments to the amounts of chocolate as her original recipe called for 5 1/2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate and 2 1/2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate.  I didn't want to trouble with measuring out half ounces of unsweetened chocolate so I decreased the amount to an even 5 ounces.  I also had a bar of Lindt bittersweet chocolate that was 3 1/2 ounces so I added the whole bar instead of breaking off a 1/2 ounce piece to eat.  It would probably be the world's biggest irony if I said I didn't need the calories from nibbling on the base ingredients but it's actually true.  I don't even lick the bowl or the mixing spoon (I can hear the thud of many bakers fainting at this quirk).  But if I'm going to eat empty calories, I'd prefer the finished product.

This was a good brownie but I have to give the slight edge to Elinor Klivans' recipe for the Frosted Chocolate Brownies as being the tiniest bit better.  The difficulty with making a 9 x 13 pan of brownies is you have to bake it longer for the middle to get to just the right point.  So the edges may be "done" which, while not dry, is still not as fudgy as I would prefer.  You can solve that problem with this brownie by making a half recipe in a 8" pan.  But I still think I like the texture from the Frosted Chocolate Brownies better as it was a bit more fudgy.

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

3 ½ ounces bittersweet chocolate (62 to 70% cacao), chopped

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 ¾ sticks) unsalted butter, melted

5 eggs

2 cups (400 grams) sugar

1 ¼ cups (175 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1.     Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 325⁰F.  Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Place the unsweetened chocolate and bittersweet chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl.  Place over (not touching) barely simmering water in a saucepan and heat, stirring occasionally, until completely melted and smooth.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until well mixed.  Let cool slightly.

3.     Place the eggs in a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment.  On low speed, slowly beat in the sugar for about 1 minute total, or until frothy and somewhat thick.  Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate mixture.

4.     In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Using the spatula, gently fold the flour mixture into the egg-chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread in an even layer with the spatula (the batter will be thick).

5.     Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a knife slipped into the center of the pan comes out with a few wet crumbs on it.  Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 2 hours, or until completely cool.  Cut into 16 bars.

6.     The brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.  Or they can be well wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 2 weeks, thaw at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours.

Minneapolis, Minnesota - Day 2 dinner

Just by looking at the pictures, you might wonder if all I did in Minneapolis was eat.  It probably seems like it.  I did attend the all-day meeting that was the entire purpose of the trip.  And I did workout two more times after the first night.  You just won't catch me posting pictures of me in all my sweaty (non)glory in the gym.  So here's the food instead.  For the second night's dinner, we went to an Italian restaurant called La Bar Grassa.  We shared entrees family style and of course, dessert.  Another wonderful meal with great company.  We all had a good time.  Enjoy the meal with your eyes - at least it's calorie-free that way.

Gnocchi in Orange Sauce got rave reviews from the team

Pressed Chicken - juicy and perfectly seasoned

Blanket Noodles in a Veal Ragu sauce

Spaghetti Carbonara

Soft Eggs with Lobster - my favorite of the appetizers

Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies with Creme Anglaise

Cheesecake

Crespelle with butterscotch filling

Apricot Torte

Minneapolis, Minnesota - Day 1 dinner

Earlier this week I went on a business trip to Minneapolis.  I was only there for 3 days and 2 nights and as soon as I landed on the first afternoon and checked into the hotel, I went straight to the gym to run on the treadmill.  We were meeting our events management firm for dinner that night  and they are fantastic at hosting clients so I figured it would be good eats.  Which meant I had to get a workout in before then in anticipation of those calories I knew I would gladly consume.  Which was good because yes, we ate and yes, it was good food.  We went to a place called Seven Sushi and Steak Ultralounge & Skybar, had appetizers on their rooftop level (it was beautiful weather) and dinner on the mezzanine.  Pictures say thousands of words so I will just showcase some of what we ate.  I took a picture of my entree and all the desserts we ordered to share.  It seemed a bit rude to go around taking pictures of everyone else's entree (I do try to have some manners) but my colleagues were kind enough to humor me taking pictures of the desserts before they dug in.  Although you will notice the spoon mark in the Chocolate Dome below where someone started to sample before I could snap the picture.  After that they were good sports about letting me get the shot in.  For people who don't understand why other people take pictures of food, yes, I'm that annoying person.

My entree: tenderloin filet with lump crab in a honey butter sauce - yum

Molten Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Warm Blueberry Bread Pudding

Chocolate Dome

Strawberry Chantilly

Lemon Loaf

Lemon Loaf - made August 18, 2012 from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

I'm still going through lemons from my mom's lemon tree and it's still the height of summer so a lemon loaf cake seemed like a good idea to fit with the season and use up nature's bounty.  I like the recipes I've tried so far from both of the Baked books I have and this was no exception.  It makes a nice lemon pound cake with extra lemon flavor coming from both the soaking syrup and the lemon glaze.  I only made a half recipe though and divided it amongst 4 mini loaf pans.  I think it would've been better if I only used 3 mini loaf pans so the loaves wouldn't have been quite so flat.  I think of this as a tea cake as it seems like it would be good to serve at an afternoon tea.  Not that I drink tea but I imagine this would be appropriate to serve at one.  It's not too sweet and you can slice it thin if you wish or chunky (even better) if you prefer.

1 ½ cups cake flour
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 ¼ cups sugar
8 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup grated lemon zest (from about 4 lemons)
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
½ cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the Lemon Syrup:
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

For the Lemon Glaze:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4 to 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans; dust with flour, tapping out excess.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed combine sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice. With the mixer still running, drizzle the butter into the bowl. Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix to combine. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Remove bowl from mixer.
4. Sprinkle in the flour mixture over the batter, one third at a time, folding gently after each addition until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes, rotate the pans, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes.
6. While the loaf is cooling, make the lemon syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside.
7. Remove loaves to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the loaves. Brush the tops and sides of the loaves with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cakes cool completely.
8. To make the lemon glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 4 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. Add up to another tablespoon of lemon juice if the mixture is too stiff. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.